1. Field of the Invention
The present application relates generally to tissue engineering and in particular to apparatuses and systems suitable for use in treatment of damaged nerve tissue.
2. Description of Related Art
Clinical studies and practice have shown that providing a reduced pressure in proximity to a tissue site augments and accelerates the growth of new tissue at the tissue site. The applications of this phenomenon are numerous, but application of reduced pressure has been particularly successful in treating wounds. This treatment (frequently referred to in the medical community as “negative pressure wound therapy,” “reduced pressure therapy,” or “vacuum therapy”) provides a number of benefits, including faster healing and increased formation of granulation tissue. Typically, reduced pressure has been applied to tissue through a porous pad or other manifolding device. The porous pad contains pores that are capable of distributing reduced pressure to the tissue and channeling fluids that are drawn from the tissue. The porous pad often is incorporated into a dressing having other components that facilitate treatment. A scaffold can also be placed into a defect to support tissue growth into the defect. The scaffold is usually bioabsorbable, leaving new tissue in its place.
Scaffolds for reduced pressure treatment are described in, e.g., WO08/091,521, WO07/092,397, WO07/196,590, WO07/106,594. The adequacy of current scaffolds for reduced pressure treatment can be evaluated in light of current knowledge of wound healing. Injury to body tissues results in a wound healing response with sequential stages of healing that include hemostasis (seconds to hours), inflammation (hours to days), repair (days to weeks), and remodeling (weeks to months). A high level of homology exists across most tissue types with regards to the early phases of the wound healing process. However, the stages of healing for various tissues begin to diverge as time passes, with the involvement of different types of growth factors, cytokines, and cells. The later stages of the wound healing response are dependent upon the previous stages, with increasing complexity in the temporal patterning of and interrelationships between each component of the response.
Strategies to facilitate normal repair, regeneration, and restoration of function for damaged tissues have focused on methods to support and augment particular steps within this healing response, especially the latter aspects of it. To this end, growth factors, cytokines, extracellular matrix (ECM) analogs, exogenous cells and various scaffolding technologies have been applied alone or in combination with one another. Although some level of success has been achieved using this approach, several key challenges remain. One main challenge is that the timing and coordinated influence of each cytokine and growth factor within the wound healing response complicate the ability to add individual exogenous factors at the proper time and in the correct coordination pattern. The introduction of exogenous cells also faces additional complications due to their potential immunogenicity as well as difficulties in maintaining cell viability.
Synthetic and biologic scaffolds have been utilized to provide three-dimensional frameworks for augmenting endogenous cell attachment, migration, and colonization. To date nearly all scaffolds have been designed with the idea that they can be made to work with the biology. Traditional scaffolding technologies, however, rely on the passive influx of endogenous proteins, cytokines, growth factors, and cells into the interstitium of the porous scaffold. As such, the colonization of endogenous cells into the scaffold is limited by the distance away from vascular elements, which provide nutrient support within a diffusion limit of the scaffold, regardless of tissue type. In addition, the scaffolds can also elicit an immunogenic or foreign body response that leads to an elongated repair process and formation of a fibrous capsule around the implant. Taken together, these complications can all lead to less than functional tissue regeneration at the injury site.
It would therefore be advantageous to provide additional systems for the repair and remodeling of specialized tissues. The present invention provides such systems.